


Amazing. Infuriating. Ridiculous.

by Teaotter



Category: Leverage
Genre: Angst and Humor, Claustrophobia, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Multi, small spaces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 20:43:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5430182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teaotter/pseuds/Teaotter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Advanced emotional distraction techniques.</p><p>aka: I would do anything for love (but I won't do that).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Amazing. Infuriating. Ridiculous.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InklingDancer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InklingDancer/gifts).



Alec opens his eyes to darkness so thick he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. If he could get his hand in front of his face, which he can't -- he's curled up tight around Parker's back, so one arm is trapped beneath him, and the other one's currently wrapped around her waist. Eliot is draped along Alec's back, his arm curled tight around everybody, so moving's not really an option.

There wouldn't be anything to see anyway.

Alec closes his eyes and tries to pretend it's just another night and everything is fine. And he might be able to, if it weren't for the fact that everything is completely, totally wrong. The three of them are still in all their clothes, for one thing, jackets and sweaters and every layer they had with them when the snow came on. And there's the fact that they're all wrapped in emergency blankets and huddled into a tent barely big enough for the three of them to lie down in. Oh, and the wind is howling like a banshee right outside.

Or at least, it had been howling right outside when he finally passed out earlier. It sounds a little muffled now. Alec feels a jolt of panic shoot through him as his imagination builds a picture of snow slowly drifting on top of their brave little tent, burying them too deeply for the emergency transponder to broadcast. 

They'd run out of air before they froze to death, he thinks. Does it smell a little stale in here already?

“Just say it.” Eliot growls softly against the back of Alec's neck, but he doesn't move his arm. “I can feel you blaming me, man. Go ahead and get it off your chest.”

Not that Alec hadn't said it –- several times –- when the storm blew up, and again while Eliot was unpacking the emergency gear and digging them a snow cave. And again a few more times --

“Well, it _is_ your fault,” Parker answers, obviously wide awake.

\-- but bitching at Eliot is definitely better than panicking, so Alec grabs onto it gratefully.

“Who else am I gonna blame?” Alec knows his voice is a little too loud for such a small space, and he tries to rein it in a notch. Parker tucks her head more firmly under his chin, and the familiar warm scent of her hair helps ground him a little.

Alec's silence must go on too long, because Eliot hitches closer. “Like it's my fault a storm blew up out of nowhere.”

Right. Alec can do this. “Who wanted to go hiking up the mountain, again? Who said it'd be fun? 'Cause it sure wasn't me.”

“It should've been fun.” Eliot picks up the thread right away, just like any of their stupid arguments. “It's midsummer, that's the literal middle of summer, lots of people climb up to watch the sun rise.”

“I've got some nice videos of sunrises, and I can watch them at home without taking a chance on freezing to death.”

“You won't freeze to death.” Eliot sounds both certain and utterly exasperated. But he doesn't move away. He waits while the wind howls again, then whispers softly. “We're just fine in here.”

Alec can't take much comfort in that. “If they find us.”

“Of course they'll find us,” Parker chimes in. “Eliot brought the thingy.”

If anything, Eliot manages to sound even more exasperated. “It's an emergency transponder.”

“The emergency responder thingy,” Parker repeats obediently, and Eliot chuffs out a breath halfway between a laugh and a sigh. “It's telling them where we're at right now.”

If they aren't too deeply buried, Alec thinks, and feels his breathing pick up again. “It's okay. It's okay if we die up here. At least we go together, right?”

“Shut up,” Eliot nudges him with an elbow, hard, right in the ribs. “We're not dying, geez, man.”

“No, it's good.” Alec's ribs sting, but that's better than listening to the wind. “It's how I'd want to go.”

“You're getting maudlin.”

“No.” Parker squirms around til she can turn over to face them. Not that Alec can see her face, but she brings her gloved hands up to his face. “I've thought about it.”

Eliot growls. Literally, this time. “Not you, too.”

“The only thing better,” Parker goes on, ignoring him, “would be dying to save you two.”

Alec nearly jerks his face out of her hands. “What?”

“Hell, no, you are not going to do that.”

“Why not? You'd be safe.” Parker leans her forehead against his. “That'd make me happy.”

“Not without you,” Alec tells her. “I'd rather die to save you.”

“Shut up, both of you.” Eliot's voice is suddenly serious. “If anyone's dying around here, it's gonna be me. That's my job.”

“No, it isn't!” It's Alec's turn to nudge backwards with an elbow, but he doesn't think he connects -– and how they can be plastered around each other and he still can't hit Eliot is just one of those things. It's time to appeal to Parker for sweet reason. “Tell him, babe.”

“Mmm.” She pretends to think about it for a moment. “Nope. Eliot, it's not your job.”

“Yes, it is. I don't know why we're even arguing about it.”

Alec snorts. “Because it's stupid.”

He can feel Parker nod. “And besides, it's Alec's job.”

“What?”

“It's always been Alec's job.” A tiny curl of humor winds through Parker's voice. “Plan M, remember?”

“Now that's just insulting,” Alec says shortly. “You are not bringing that up right now, you are _not_. We're lying in the dark with snow piling on top of us -- ”

Eliot hums against his back. “Huh. She she has a point.”

“-- and you are not making plans that involve me dying. There is no contingency plan where I die, that was a joke. And a bad one.”

Parker has the audacity to giggle at him. “There are always contingency plans.”

“And she's right, you're the easiest one to pin down,” Eliot agrees, the bastard. “You're most likely to get found out --”

“And you still oversell your grifts sometimes,” Parker points out. 

Alec squeezes his eyes closed and frees up one arm to press over his ear. “I am not listening to you.”

“You do.” Eliot says, close enough that Alec can't help but hear him. “You know that's absolutely true.”

“I am not listening to either one of you right now.”

“Really, it's the best plan more often than you'd think.” Parker pries Alec's hand from his ear and wraps it back around her.

“I hate you, I hate you both and I am not dying for you.” Alec huffs softly, but he can't help relaxing back into their arms. “I'm not dying with you, either.”

He's in love with two amazing, infuriating, ridiculous people, who would do anything to keep him from freaking out too badly about what's happening. He knows they can go all night, distracting him, and they absolutely will if he needs them to.

They're curled up here in the dark with him, and they're not going to leave him alone.

“Good.” Eliot sounds extremely smug. “I didn't want you to anyway.” 

Parker snuggles closer. “You don't think it'd be romantic?”

Alec just hopes someone finds them before his lovers drive him completely mad.


End file.
